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When to Plant Chinese cabbage in Clear Lake, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant chinese cabbage is to use the USDA zone info for Clear Lake.

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Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

Frost tolerance for chinese cabbage: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Chinese cabbage do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chinese cabbage
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chinese cabbage
Probably not a good time to plant chinese cabbage

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Clear Lake is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your chinese cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Clear Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Clear Lake is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Clear Lake there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your chinese cabbage if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clear Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Clear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Clear Lake.